Monday, 28 April 2014

How to be a blogger | lifestyle

After blogging for a few years now, having met and become friends with other bloggers and following lots of blogs and their authors, I feel I can speak for at least a few of us when listing these necessary steps to being a blogger.

1. Accept that you will never be able to go out for a nice meal, get a beauty treatment, or discover a new place without incessantly trying to take photos at the perfect angle, preventing everyone at the table from eating until the lighting is right and looking like an over excited tourist in your own town taking DSLR snaps of 'cute' signs or menus.

2. Be under no allusions, when you are actually writing up your OOTD post in which you spent maybe too much time making sure everything was just right, you will be sat, probably on a bed or sofa, with a top knot, sweat pants and no makeup on.

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3. Buying products is now a sport, you can't just reach for any bottle, this bottle should be mark and scuff free, never have been opened and remain this way until it is sufficiently photographed before you can actually trial it.

4. Hard drive space will become a distant memory, 347 pictures of a nail polish is totally normal and they will sit on your computer until you have time to try the product, edit them properly and actually write the post.

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5. Amongst the community calling people by there blog name or referring to somebody as 'Rachel Notes' (Author of Notes from the City) is normal, not offensive and everybody knows what you're talking about.

6. Sighs, Scoffs or Tuts will become standard place when out with a group of friends as getting a photo in perfect focus cannot be done whilst moving, so they may be left to walk ahead talking to themselves while you ensure you've not just passed a brushed steel pot of tulips without grabbing a picture.

7. Somehow all at once you will all be raving about the same product, even if it isn't new and you didn't read about it before, it just happens, blogger telepathy or something.

8. Although most people wouldn't say no to a 3 wick candle or a lovely bunch of flowers, there is an unwritten rule that these must be staples for bloggers, I still am to discover why, but all I know is in the last few years my candle collection has tripled and I now have these plants on my windowsill.

9. You will never be happy with your blog layout. It will be your pride and joy, and spending so much time staring at one page's layout will make you see things you never knew mattered until you had your own.

10. There is a free pass for the amount of hash tags you use as long as its a blog related post. #selfpromotion

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11. Going for a walk to 'clear you head' turns in to, 'everywhere I walk I see blog opportunities', whether this is a setting for a OOTD post, a scenic view you want to share or great lighting to shoot your FOTD a blog is no 9-5, but thats the best bit.

12. You will feel like you know people you have never met, and meeting up with people you met on the internet becomes something normal and fun rather than something only crazy people do. Your mum will still think its creepy though.

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13. Disclaimers become your best friend as we all know the internet is so accepting of opinions and copyright.

14. Finally, you will constantly wish you had time to write more and if you go more than a few days without posting and bump into another blogger, guilt like no other falls over you and despite no one judging you will continue to explain anyway.

Until next time,

Love&Kisses,

Mel

* This post was written as a comedy guide.

* Photos marked with the asterisks are public domain but not my own. All other images in this post are taken by and property of JustMelKate.

Haha these are so true! I think the blogger's best secret is blog sales, because from my experience it's normally bloggers buying from bloggers. So when a friend asks where you got something really nice and you tell them how cheap it was from a blog sale and seeing their jaw drop. Awesome moment!

So, so true. The taking photos thing is such an issue that non-bloggers do not understand. No one around me actually knows that I blog yet. So I have to be super sneaky with my camera… haha. The best blogger secret? I think it's a pretty obvious one, but you have to be totally genuine when writing your posts, and very blogger-friendly (as in replying to comments). Networking is massive in the blogosphere, you HAVE to get on other people's blogs and be genuinely interested in what they have to say to get people back on your blog. But like I said, it has to be genuine - not just a load of links to your Facebook, pinterest, twitter, blah blah blah. Rosemary x